Chapter 3

Elie and his father remain together, but  separated from their mother and younger sister. Eliezer and his father meet a prisoner, who tells them to lie about their ages. Elie, almost fifteen, said that he is eighteen, while his father, who is fifty, is to say that he is forty. As the prisoners move through Birkenau, they are horrified to see a huge pit where babies are being burned, and another for adults. Eliezer cannot believe his eyes, and tells his father that what they see is impossible, that “humanity would never tolerate” such an atrocity. His father, breaking down into tears, replies that "humanity is nonexistent in the world of the crematoria."       

Everybody in the column of prisoners weeps, and somebody begins to recite the Jewish prayer for the dead, the Kaddish. Eliezer's father also recites the prayer. Eliezer, is skeptical. He cannot understand what he has to thank God for. When Eliezer and his father are two steps from the edge of the pit, their rank is diverted and directed to a barracks. In the barracks, the Jews are stripped and shaved, disinfected with gasoline, showered, and clothed in prison uniforms. Despite all that they have seen, the prisoners continue to express their faith in God and trust in divine redemption. Finally, they are escorted on a four-hour walk from Auschwitz to Buna, the work camp in which they will be interned for months.

Quote:

"MY Father had just been struck, in front of me, and I had not even blinked."

Reaction: 

This scene is proof of the terrible way the concentration camps changed people. 

Elie finds he has no physical reaction to the abuse of his father. He feels ashamed and says he still feels that shame. I doubt he could of helped at all, and this seems to foreshadow Elie future tortue in Auschwitz .
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